Flashback Fridays: Sonic the Hedgehog

Update: The contest for the Sonic 4: Episode II hoodies has officially ended, and since no one entered, there are no winners.

It’s that time once again to take a trip back to the past in a little segment we like to cal Flashback Fridays. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what’s going on here, please refer to previous articles for more information. Today we are going to take a look at a game that took blast processing (whatever that is) to a whole new level and then some. The title that I am referring to was sole proof that a great franchise can be born from any console, Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sometime around 1991 or so, a new video game system called the Sega Genesis was arriving onto store shelves, and as you can imagine, it was something that I just had to own. After bugging my parents for weeks to pick one up for me, they finally did, and as soon as my hands opened up that box, the rest was history. Sadly, I only had one game to try out, which was the one that came with the system , and it was called Sonic the Hedgehog. Once the power switch went on, and Sonic ran through his first loop at breakneck speed, my enjoyment level went through the roof, this was unlike anything else I’ve ever played.

The setup is simple, yet straightforward, which is ok for something that focuses more on gameplay than story. An evil scientist by the name of Dr. Robotnik is on a mission to collect seven chaos emeralds in an effort to take over the world, and it’s up to a little blue hedgehog, who goes by the name of Sonic, to stop him. How does he plan on doing this you might ask? Well, by running as fast as possible from the end of one stage to another of course. The gameplay centers around getting to the end of a level as fast as you can, destroying any enemies that get in your way, and collect every single emerald before robotnik can get his hands on them. As simple as this sounds, the game itself is still a very challenging experience that will put even the most trained gamers skills to the test and then some.

My personal thoughts on the game go a little something like this, it’s awesome. The sheer amount of speed alone was a breathtaking thing to see at the time, a fluid control system was nothing to sniff at either, and the musical score included a number of different tracks that made each stage a joy to play through. One memorable aspect of the game that sticks out in my head was the different outfits robotnik came up with for boss fights, which ranged from obscure to downright ridiculous. All of these elements put together created an experience that made me change the way I looked at video games forever, and that’s not an easy thing to do.

Sonic the Hedgehog was a classic platformer that truly defined the bit generation, and is something that everybody should consider checking out.

That concludes my story on Sonic the Hedgehog, but if you have any fond memories of this game please feel free to share them with us in the comments below.

Here is a gameplay video that I found for it, enjoy!

P.S.- We’re doing a giveaway for this article, so leave a comment below to have a chance to win a couple of hoodies (one sonic, one tails) for your xbox live avatars from Sonic 4: Episode II. Two winners will be chosen by 12pm eastern time tomorrow, and the codes will be sent to them via email. Good luck everybody.